7th Pay Commission: Salary hike for government employees has been announced. This will benefit 19 lakh government employees across the state!

In a good news for the government employees in Maharashtra, the state government has announced pay hike for its employees from Diwali which falls in November this year. This will benefit 19 lakh government employees across the state! Announcing the decision, the finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the state government will implement recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for its employees from Diwali. “The Seventh Pay Commission will be our Diwali gift to employees,” he said.

The announcement comes amid the reports that have been doing rounds suggesting PM Narendra Modi may announce a hike in the fitment factor and minimum pay beyond 7th CPC or 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations.

Mungantiwar further said that the decision will put a financial burden of Rs 21,530 crore on the state exchequer. “The finance department made provisions of Rs 10,000 crore in its annual budget presented in March this year. The remaining provisions will be made through supplementary demands or in the next year’s budget,” he said. The remaining provisions will be made through supplementary demands or in the next year's budget, he said.

In yet another good news, the government is also considering the demand for granting child care leave (CCL) for two years (730 days) to women government employees and 15 days paternal leave for male staffers. On the other hand, the government is also studying a proposal to start a five-day week working system for its employees, the state finance minister said. "The proposal for increasing the working hours of government employees by 15 minutes against a weekly off on every Saturday is being studied," he added.